In The End Wishes Granted
by Lady Eclipse
Summary: The final battle has come but it has come with a great price. What will the holder of the shikon jewel wish for when everyone wants different things? What will be Inu Yasha's choice with the two women that he loves?


Standard disclaimers apply: I do not own "Inu Yasha" or any of its characters.  
  
In The End (Wishes Granted) Written By: Lady Eclipse  
The sky was a deep black, far darker than any cloudy night. There was an inky quality to the air that gave the impression that it would swallow the unwary into its nothingness. The land and trees had been stripped of life leaving a hollow and desolate field, a haunting reminder of the poison that had destroyed it. In the midst of all of that death and barren emptiness stood a man wrapped in the hide of a baboon howling with laughter at his prey. Enemies surrounded him but they were no closer to destroying him than they had been when they had first attacked. Now they all stood tired and bloody eyeing him wearily. In his tightly fisted hand he held half of a jewel throbbing with power. A young girl raised her bow and let loose a spirit-charged arrow but her eyes held no hope of it every meeting its target. Naraku sprung away turning his escape into an offense as he lunged for the half-demon. The white-haired boy raised his large fang-like sword and prepared to strike. Naraku shot out a vast array of tentacles which could not all be blocked leaving a few to imbed themselves deeply into Inu Yasha's body. He then swiftly sent his venom into the body to destroy the half-demon from within. Then something collided into him. The weight was so negligible that it didn't move him an inch. Surprised, he momentarily ceased his assault on the boy's system so glance down at the young woman looking up at him with fierce and determined eyes. In her hand was a glowing arrow that she jabbed into his side. Naraku howled with pain as her spiritual energy tore at his body. He raised his claws and struck her deeply on her shoulder sending her flying backwards. In the time it took him to tear away the burning arrow Inu Yasha had freed himself of the poisonous tentacles and was bracing himself for another attack. Deeply wounded as he was, Naraku attempted to use the energy of the shikon jewel to replenish him but soon realized that it was no longer in his hand. She had used the arrow as a distraction while she snatched the jewel from him.  
  
"That BITCH!" He snarled in ultimate anger turning toward the woman as she slowly rose to her feet desperately clutching her wound. "Kagome!" Inu Yasha got sight of her and moved forward to aid her. "Now you will die!" Naraku hissed as he sped past Inu Yasha with his hand raised for the final blow. His lethal claws, however, never made contact. Inu Yasha came up from behind and Kagome let loose a final arrow from her bow. "NOOOOOO!!!!!!!" Came the rage filled wail of Naraku as Tetsaiga pierced his spine and a spiritually charged arrow pierced his throat. He stumbled back in agony, his teeth gritted in an effort to ignore the pain and muster his strength to destroy the insects that had dared to defy him. He was soon sent to the ground by a giant boomerang that hit him soundly on his back while he was focused on the half-demon and woman before him. Both stood resolutely with weapons poised. Inu Yasha was badly wounded but it was nothing that he wouldn't eventually recover from. The woman on the other hand. Naraku grinned in pleasure to note that she had received the same fatal wound that he had bestowed upon her former incarnation. Her arms where quivering trying to hold up the bow for another shot. All of her failing strength was spent on this final stand. Blood spilled from Naraku's gaping mouth as he frantically tried to draw in air. But it was to no avail, Inu Yasha sprang forward driven by a rage deeper than any could fathom and sliced through Naraku using the wind scar. The sword sang with his hatred and with his despair. Naraku fell to his hands and knees shaking from the effort to stay conscious. "I.won't let this en.end this way!" Naraku coughed up more blood and realized that his brief reign was rapidly coming to an end. He slowly began to pool his resources for a final assault, a spell that he had learned just for this purpose. If he were to die then he would take all of those miserable wretches with him. In his ultimate hatred and rage he called to him the ancient energies he had once seen emitted from the very woman he had slain. From her he had learned the spell that would destroy her new incarnation and all that she had loved. A flash of red cloth caught his eye and he glanced up to see the undead priestess herself flanked with her spirit lackeys step forward through the ranks of his enemies. Everyone stood still starring at her uncertainly but Inu Yasha took a few steps forward looking as though he wanted to say something to her. However, she ignored them all, even the dying new incarnation of her soul. She stopped just in front of him and smiled maliciously. "Yes." She murmured; her vindictive pleasure barely contained. "Yes, this is exactly what I have been waiting for. Now you shall suffer for your sins." Naraku laughed shakily, "Yes, now I shall. But." he cast his arms to the air and let loose his power for his last strike, ".you shall follow and pay your debts to hell as well!" With that the ground split in two with a violent shake and a plume of hideous yellow smoke shot out. The sky was filled with a violent red light as the passageway to hell was opened and the air was filled with the screams of the eternally tormented. The noxious mist clung to all that it touched looking like a vaporous chain as it eagerly sought victims to drag down into hell. "Kilala!" Sango cried and flung herself upon her feline guardian as it flew by striking flame with its feet. Kilala swiftly soared away from the deadly smoke while Sango gripped Miroku's hand as she passed him taking him safely away on the back of her friend. "Hurry," She cried to those who remained behind, "if we do not depart now we could all be killed!" "Right," Inu Yasha called back. "Come on, Kagome!" He kneeled down preparing to carry her on his back as he always had. He was greeted with silence. "Kagome.?" Inu Yasha spun around in a sudden panic as he remembered her injury and the scent of her blood filled his nostrils. "Kagome!!!" He cried seeing her collapsed upon the ground with her wine- red blood pooling out around her. "NO!" He ran to her side trying his best to dodge the clinging vapor and took her into his arms. "Kagome, talk to me! Open your eyes!" A small gasp of pain escaped her parted lips and her eyes opened just a fraction, "Inu.Inu Yasha." She whispered and winced from the effort of even talking. "Just hang in there! You can't die on me now you stupid girl." He nearly choked on the emotion swelling within him. Kagome lifted a feeble hand to his cheek, "It's not your fault." A crystal tear slid down her pale cheek followed by another. "Don't say that." "None of this is your fault so don't blame yourself. I came here willingly, I knew what I was doing." She continued not heeding his words. "You're not going to die so don't talk like that!" Kagome's eyes became soft, softer and more brilliant than any eyes he had ever known. "I'm sorry I never got to tell you." "Tell me what? You'll have plenty of time to tell me whatever. I said that you are not going to die!" The smoke silently wrapped itself around his throat and torso, an invisible assailant. "Just hold on and I'll get you back to your time where they can heal you. You said that they were really advanced in healing, right?" Kagome didn't respond; her sad eyes just looked up at him lovingly. "You can't leave me." His voice broke in sorrow as he caught the scent of death. His vision was soon clouded with tears and with a sickly colored smoke. "Wha.?" Too late he realized that the smoke had ensnared him and held him tightly. As he struggled futilely the smoke captured the incapacitated Kagome and dragged her from his tight embrace. She was too spent to struggle in any way and only had the strength to fasten her fading eyes upon him. "NO! LET ME GO! KAGOME!" He cried desperately as he used all of his strength to reach out to her. "Inu Yasha." She whispered as she raised a trembling hand. Their fingertips barely brushed but she cried out in pain as the smoke tightened its hold on her. Her arm dropped heavily to her side and her blood coated the thick smoke that so ruthlessly held her. The smoke easily lifted them from the ground and carried them to the fissure. Kikyo was held above the abyss by the smoke as well but she was not struggling. She glanced as Inu Yasha and smiled with triumph. "So now we are finally able to descend to hell together. Naraku is dead so your quest for revenge is now over." Inu Yasha looked to the ground just in time to see Naraku's lifeless body sink silently into the abyss. "But.what about Kagome!" His eyes found the dying woman who looked to him with such trust, such warmth. "What about her?" But her scornful question could never be answered for she was yanked down into hell with a speed too fast for even a surprised exclamation.  
  
"Inu Yasha." Kagome weakly called. Inu Yasha struggled furiously to try to get her, "Kagome, don't give in! I'll be right there!" All his struggling was useless; the vapors of hell were far stronger than any demon alive or dead. "I love you." Came her faint confession filled with all of the promise and passion that she possessed. For one brief moment their eyes meet and held each other, as their bodies could not. Then, her eyes darkened and her body went limp. "No..NO! KAGOME!!" Inu Yasha cried out desperately. "Please don't leave me!!" The smoke pulled its unresisting prey down into hell to join the others. "No." Tears poured down his battle-scarred face. "No.not like this..why? Why did you have to take her.?" He stopped fighting the smoke, his head hanging in his ultimate despair. No longer caring what happened to his soul he allowed the vapor to pull him down to his fate.  
  
* * *  
  
When he opened his eyes again Inu Yasha found himself floating in a sea of soft red light that pulsed quietly like a living thing. There was no horrible pain nor was the air filled with the screams of the eternally damned. All was quiet and empty. Is this hell? He wondered to himself vaguely. Surely all of the horrible things he had done in his life would account for a greater punishment than this. His heart twisted violently in his chest. Then again, what could be a greater hell than the knowledge that he was all alone for the rest of eternity? He had lost the only one he had ever loved. "Inu Yasha." Came a sad yet stern voice from the shifting mist around him. "Who's there?" A form appeared before him dressed in the robes of a priestess. "Kikyo!" She nodded solemnly. "But what happened to Kagome?" Kikyo frowned, "Is this not enough? Can you not be content spending an eternity with me? You said you loved me." "I do. But.can we really be happy living like this? It's not even living." "I wanted." Kikyo suddenly looked vulnerable and gentle, more like she used to be when she was still alive. ".I wanted to live with you. I wanted to live as a normal woman with you by my side. But that can never be now. I am dead and can never be among the living again. This is the only way I can be with you." "There's another way, you can live again." "How?" Her voice became bitter and hard. "Don't you see? You already had that all throughout the quest to claim all of the shikon shards. After all, you are Kagome. Her soul is yours.you are the same person." Kikyo gasped then scowled in irritation, "You would call me the same as her. She may share my soul but she is nothing like me." "Of course she is. She is what you would have been like if you would have been free to be a normal woman. When you were reincarnated you got everything you desired." Inu Yasha hung his head, "But I guess none of that matters now. Kagome is dead, I have failed you again." "You love her don't you?" She accused anger flaring through her. "Yes." He replied simply, painfully. "More than me?" "Don't ask me that." Kikyo held her hand out to reveal the shikon jewel resting comfortably in her palm. It glowed faintly. "When Kagome died her spirit returned to me.as well as all of her memories and feelings." A tear traveled down her sorrowful face, "All she wanted was for you to be happy. She loved you as much as I do and was willing to let you go to hell with me if that was what you wanted; even if it killed her inside." "Kikyo." Inu Yasha held out a hand to her but she waved him away from her. "I am jealous of her because she has what I did not. She is free and can enjoy her life without worry or responsibility. She can be normal and.she has your love." The jewel floated off of her palm and shone vibrantly. "As much as I would like to hate her for her interference, I think that we finally understand one another." She smiled and held a hand to her heart. "I think that Kagome and I can finally be one again. Her love and acceptance won't leave any room in my heart for hatred." "So what do we do now?" He sounded so young and unsure despite his numerous years. "It is time that we both move on." She replied; her smile became both happy and remorseful. "Move on.what do you mean?" The light of the jewel intensified, so much so that Inu Yasha had to shield his eyes. "Kagome's purity and final sacrifice has purified the jewel. If I use it now the jewel will cease to exist." "What are you going to do with it?" "I will grant your wish.and mine." "My wish.but -" He couldn't finish his protest for he was starting to feel incredibly dizzy and faint. "Good-bye, Inu Yasha." Kikyo's voice sounded oddly distant, as though she was speaking from the end of a long tunnel. "What do you mean? Kikyo, don't go!" He pleaded but the light was too blinding for him to try to locate her. He reached out into the light then was drowned in a sea of blackness.  
  
* * *  
  
Sunlight filtered in through parted curtains to rest upon the sleeping form of a young woman. Her ebony hair lay fanned out upon the pillow and her youthful eyes were closed in blissful slumber. "Kagome, time to get up!" Came the cheerful voice of her mother downstairs. Her eyes twitched slightly then opened slowly as she surfaced from her dreams. She spent a few sleepy moments starring at the ceiling before her memory of the immediate past returned to her. She sat up swiftly and put a hand to her shoulder but could find no wound. "But.I thought I had died." She murmured. Kagome got out of her warm bed and wandered around her room. "This can't be right.I thought I died. If I didn't, how did I get here without so much as a scratch?" Her door opened and her mother's bright face peered in, "Oh good, you're out of bed! Better get ready or you'll be late for school." Her mother turned to go, "Mom, wait!" "Yes dear?" "Um.how.when.uh.when did I get back?" "Why just last night. Don't you remember?" "I uh.well.not really."  
  
"That's strange. I wonder if you're sick or something. I worry so much with you out battling demons. You could really get hurt." Her mother felt her forehead and shifted her face this way and that in a motherly fashion. "I feel fine." Kagome hurriedly assured her mother. "Hmm.well you don't have a fever. Perhaps you should stay home just to be on the safe side." "No, I've already missed way too much school. I was probably just really tired last night." Kagome lied eager to ease the worry from her mother's eyes. There was no point in upsetting them both. "If you're sure.just promise to take it easy from now on, okay?" "I promise." Her mother left the room leaving Kagome to scramble to get ready for school and to wonder what had happened and what would happen next.  
  
* * *  
  
Dressed in her usual school uniform Kagome slowly walked to school. Her head swam with confusion and worry. She found herself home and unharmed yet she could remember quite clearly the devastating wound that she thought had killed her. She couldn't remember how she got home or what had happened to Inu Yasha and the others. Her heart ached with worry and she wondered if Naraku had been successful in trapping her friends in hell. Without the shikon jewel she was helpless to return to the past to see the aftermath of their fierce and final battle with the demon Naraku. She missed her friends terribly but she missed Inu Yasha most of all. She missed his playful name-calling and their bickering. She missed the way he would smile at her and always watch over her. Most of all she just missed him; she missed everything about him good and bad. She missed everything that made him who he was. Kagome shook her head and tried to force the sad thoughts from her mind. It wouldn't do to arrive at school crying. What could she possible say to her friends to explain away her tears? They would know she was lying but she couldn't ever tell them the truth.it was too bizarre. She sighed and lifted her chin determined to conquer her emotions and be strong. Kagome chuckled remembering how Inu Yasha hated it when she cried. She wiped the last hint of tears from her eyes and held her head high. 'Okay, I won't cry Inu Yasha. Just for you.' She mentally vowed and could easily picture him scowling at her and yelling at her to stop crying. 'Always for you.' She soon came to an intersection with a crosswalk. There was a boy there already waiting for the light to change. He was dressed in her school uniform yet she could not identify him readily. His long back hair was loosely tied back but that was all that she could see of him. Yet there was something about him, something about the way he sullenly leaned against the post that was so achingly familiar. Once she reached the crosswalk she tried to casually get a good look at his face. She leaned forward as far as she dared without losing her balance trying to catch his face underneath all of that unruly hair. "What are you looking at?" Came a scornful and impatient voice. Kagome's heart skipped a beat as she recognized that tone. That voice was one she would know anywhere. "I.uh.nothing!" She turned away from him to hide her furious blush. 'No, it can't be! He's human and there isn't even a new moon. Besides, why on earth would Inu Yasha be going to my school?' She reasoned with herself. "Are you just going to stand there all day?" Kagome reluctantly turned around and found herself looking into deep violet eyes and a face so startlingly like Inu Yasha's that she almost cried. "The light's changed." He remarked impatiently pointing up to the signal. "Oh." She could think of nothing else to say and in all honesty her brain was a little numb with shock.and with longing. The boy sighed heavily with exasperation, "I swear Kagome! First all you can do is complain about how you don't go to school enough and now that you can go all you can do is stand there gawking!" Kagome's chest constricted to the point where she had trouble breathing. ".Inu Yasha.?" Was all that escaped her trembling lips in a subdued and awed tone. "Yea, who else would I be?" Tears of joy raced down her face as she flung herself into his arms. She didn't wonder how or why he was there, she didn't think to ask about the others or what had happened to Naraku. All that she could think of was that the man she loved was standing before her. "Inu Yasha, I was so worried." She sobbed into his shoulder. Inu Yasha hesitantly wrapped his arms around her. "You shouldn't. I'm not a weakling, you know." She laughed and held him tighter, "Right, how could I forget?" "Stupid girl," he murmured affectionately into her hair. They stood holding each other like that for a few moments just reveling in each other's presence. After a while Inu Yasha chuckled, "I go through all of the trouble to get here and all that you can do is cry on me." Kagome raised her head to look into his amused eyes, "But how did you get here and why are you human?" "I was in hell but Kikyo came to me. She said that she would grant both our wishes with the shikon jewel." Kagome cocked her head in confusion, "I thought that you wanted to become a full demon?" Inu Yasha smiled softly and shook his head, "I used to, but now all I want is to be with the one I love." His arms tightened around her. A deep blush colored her cheeks but she tried to suppress her hope before it rose too high. "I thought you loved Kikyo." "I do." "Then why are you here and not in hell with her?" Inu Yasha rolled his eyes in mock frustration, "Duh, because you and Kikyo are the same person. You have the same soul. I can't believe you two don't see it because you two are exactly alike sometimes!" "That's right," She murmured touching a hand to her heart, "We are the same soul.then, does that mean that she finally gave up her hatred?" "Yes, your soul is now complete again. Kikyo lives again in you the life that she always wanted. That is how the shikon granted her wish." He brought a hand up to caress her cheek, "And this is how the shikon jewel has granted my wish." He tilted her face up and pressed his lips gently against hers. Kagome's eyes slowly closed in bliss though her heart fluttered wildly in her chest. Inu Yasha pulled back a centimeter and smiled again, "Did the jewel grant your wish?" The erotic thrill of feeling his lips and breath brush against hers as he spoke almost eclipsed the arrogant tone. "I guess you'll do. But I will miss your ears, they were so cute!" Inu Yasha groaned as a martyred expression passed across his face. However, Kagome soon ardently silenced him as she drew him into another deep and fervent kiss.  
  
All around them school children and teenagers passed them by on their way to school. The younger children paused to watch them with curiosity while the female teenagers swooned together over the intimate embrace and told each other how they would like to be held like that too one day. Kagome and Inu Yasha stood oblivious to the commotion of the people and the cars. All that they were aware of was each other and the love that they held which they could now enjoy together in peace. The fights and bloodshed were finally over. They were now finally free to love each other with all of their hearts. In the end, that was all that they ever wanted.  
  
~Wish Granted~ ________________________________________________________________________  
  
Would you believe that this came from a dream? Normally my dreams don't make any sense but I dreamed this and it felt so right that I had to write this down. Beforehand I couldn't really think of a plausible way that the series could end. My sub-conscious is pretty good at endings, ne? Anywho, this is pretty much a one-shot but it could be turned into something more if people show a liking for the concept. Perhaps I could write about the events leading up to that final battle or about Inu Yasha's life as a human. You be the judge and thank you for reading!  
  
Lady Eclipse "If the people we love are stolen away from us a way to have them live on is to never stop loving them. Buildings burn, people die, but real love is forever." The Crow 


End file.
